Stories of
American Heroes -
Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado

Thomas J. Ward

TAPS

Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky,
Gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh,
Falls the night.

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, From the hills,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.

Then good night, Peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn
Shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear,
Friend, good night.

Upper
Hill Cemetery

Born:August 18, 1837 at Romney,
WV

Entered
Service in the US Army from Decatur, IL

Earned The Medal of Honor During the Civil War For heroism
May 22, 1863 at Vicksburg, VA.

Died:March 30, 1924 at the age of 86

The Vicksburg
campaign was waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. It included
battles in west-central Mississippi at Port Gibson, Raymond,
Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Black River and numerous smaller
battle fields. On the morning of May 22, General Grant launched
what he hoped would be a crushing assault against Vicksburg. In
the fighting that followed, the Union Infantry was repulsed and
thrown back along a three-mile front. The Union Army suffered
more than 3,000 casualties, and 97 Union soldiers earned Medals
of Honor (the second largest single-day total in history.)
Private Thomas Ward was one of eighty soldiers cited simply for
"Gallantry in the charge of the 'volunteer storming party,'
seemingly innocuous wording that actually denotes the fact that
Private Ward was at the head of his attacking force where the
enemy fire was hottest and the danger the greatest.
Following the failed assault on May 22, a forty-seven day siege
was laid against the city, which finally surrendered to Union
forces on July 4.